[Hidden-tech] Verizon FIOS

[Robert Heller]

At Fri, 27 Oct 2017 11:43:02 -0400 markdhamill at gmail.com wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> Last I checked the City of Northampton (like most in the area) has a
> contract with Comcast. I think this makes it the only legally allowed ISP
> in the city. (If so they are doing a poor job of bargaining, considering
> what Comcast charges.)

Actually, no, it is the only allowed *Cable TV* provider. *Not the same
thing*, although with *Cable TV* being replaced with Internet streaming video
services and with *Cable TV* providers offering Internet and Phone, it is
confusing.  And the City of Northampton can always not renew the *Cable* 
franchise agreement...

And no "most in the area" *does not* have any sort of contract with Comcast.  
Yes many of the "big towns" have a contract with Comcast and some of the "big 
towns" have a contract with Charter (or Time Warner).  And at least one "big 
town" (Westfield) is actively building their own fiber network and plans to 
compete with Comcast.  And a pile of *small towns* (too small for the likes of 
Comcast) are in the process of building their own fiber networks.

> 
> We should petition members of our city and town boards to open high speed
> internet competition.

*Internet* is not actually regulated.  There is nothing stopping someone else 
providing *Internet* service.  Competing with Comcast (or Charter or Time 
Warner) is going to be hard.  Nothing is *legally* stopping the City of 
Northampton from forming a MLP and building their own fiber network.  The only 
issues are political and financial...

> 
> Verizon FiOS is great if you can get it, but they serve very limited
> markets and don't seem interested in expanding into new territories.
> 
> On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 11:31 AM, Alex Kalish <alexkalish at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Rats, I was wrong.  Service isn't available.  Their site is confusing.
> >
> > On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 11:09 AM, Alex Kalish <alexkalish at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Sweet!!  I live in Florence on Pine St, near downtown and I think that
> >> the Verizon site is saying that it's available.  I had Fios in the Boston
> >> area before moving back to the valley and it was great.  I'm definitely
> >> going to investigate switching.  I've not had great reliability with
> >> Comcast.
> >>
> >> On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 10:23 AM, Mark D. Hamill <markdhamill at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> This is excellent news! It was supposed available two years ago when we
> >>> moved in but it was not when we inquired. I suspect it is still
> >>> theoretically available most places in that they have to do some cable
> >>> stringing to local communities to make it available.
> >>>
> >>> We had FiOS in Northern Virginia and were very satisfied. In addition
> >>> the competition kept costs reasonable. We pay about $75 in Northampton for
> >>> service we paid about $50 in Northern Virginia, as they had competition
> >>> with Cox Communications. In addition, the speed was excellent.
> >>>
> >>> I will investigate whether this is actually viable here at Bear Hill in
> >>> Florence.
> >>>
> >>> Mark
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 9:55 AM, Christine Dutton <cgdutton7 at gmail.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Hello Hidden Tech Folks,
> >>>> I live in Northampton and Verizon FIOS is now available as an
> >>>> alternative to Comcast internet. If you have signed up w/ Verizon FIOS,
> >>>> would you please share your experiences so far including connectivity and
> >>>> speed. Also, please share if you are using any other alternative in
> >>>> Northampton.
> >>>> Thanks!
> >>>> Christine
> >>>>
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> >>
> >
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